Cat, Quarantine

The Prodigal Cat Returns

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What a week it has been. I’d say bad, except for some good news did happen!

Backing up a bit, so with all the Covid-19 stuff, Louie and I thought long and hard about taking our trip to Atlanta, but we decided to go for it: we were driving, and we were mostly just going to visit our friends April and Charlie, so we figured we weren’t interacting with huge numbers of people nor would we be at the whims of the airport. I packed a few extra items in the car in case of emergencies (little did I know that toilet paper would become an emergency and I would have brought more to leave with April) and we set off.

We had a great time in Atlanta. I might share more later, but that already feels too long ago.

Our last night in town, I got a call which left a voicemail. I started listening to it, and froze. It was a place calling to tell me they had my cat, Miles. THEY HAD MILES.

They had actually had him since October but for whatever reason, hadn’t run his microchip. When they finally did, Saturday evening, they found us. We told them we would be there as soon as we could.

We left Atlanta very early Sunday in order to get to the shelter before it closed.

And then we took him home. He’s been missing since April 20 of last year. Oh, and before being in the shelter, he was visiting the porch of a woman who lives in our neighborhood, about 5-6 blocks away. I even interacted with her on nextdoor, but didn’t know it was him (she said he was unneutered, and he is neutered, and I didn’t get back in touch with her due to a variety of reasons, one being I was in touch with so many people about black cats, and I also guess I figured she would run his chip at some point since that was mentioned in the thread…oh well!) But most important, he seemed well fed and happy, and the people at the shelter seemed very nice and loved cats.

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Today is day two of online teaching from home. How quickly our lives change and yet already seem normal. This is the amazing part of being human, is that we adapt so quickly. We are struggling to figure out how to deal with life as it is now, with social distancing (who even knew this word 7 to 10 days ago?), working from home (thank goodness for the internet and video chat, right??) and spending far more time together and less time with other people. It looks like I wasn’t insane two weeks ago to stock up on food and such, though there isn’t actually a food shortage, it sort of feels like it.

I went to Schnucks (our local grocery store) yesterday afternoon for a few items (milk, notably) and it was shocking. Empty shelves everywhere, though there was still plenty of food, if you were willing to be flexible. No bananas, but still apples and pears. They were out of a lot of pastas but not all, and the same with breads. They did have a ton of green cabbage, 29 cents per head, and I just couldn’t imagine making cabbage right then. That’s how you know it isn’t really a food shortage…if there were we’d also be buying the cabbage.

I did get milk, though not my preferred brand, and a few other items. I think mostly we will just be cooking at home more and not having to pack lunches either, so our cooking styles will change over the next few weeks/months. I’ll have more time too as I’m only teaching and don’t have any extra gigs. We’ll see how much I miss them! Right now, I’m not feeling like playing the violin because I’m a little bummed about all that’s going on.

In any case, this is a wonderful time to be home with Miles and Muriel, and watching them interact and get used to each other again. Do they remember? No idea. Does Miles remember us? Again, no idea, but he seems to be settling in well and doing some of the same things he used to do, but that could just be instinct. (Likes the same toys, hiding in the same bathroom drawer, etc.)

How are you coping? Are you working from home (are you lucky enough to be able to?) Are you struggling and hoping relief comes your way (we will need cash in people’s hands soon)? Are you just going on, life as normal?

Travel

Will we always have Paris

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And like that, we booked tickets yesterday for Paris. Will we get to go this summer? Who knows! Louie is going to a work conference and so we are staying afterwards. If the conference gets canceled due to the coronavirus, we’ll figure out our next move, but the airline was offering no exchange fees for tickets purchased now and we figured if we were going to go this summer we should go ahead and buy. Worse case, we don’t go, but we should be able to exchange for other flights, or I imagine get a refund if things really get crazy. Better to pretend everything is okay, right?

So we are definitely flying in and out of Paris, and we are definitely spending about 1 week there for his conference, but then we have another week. Should we stay in Paris longer (Louie will have mostly been at the conference up until then) or tool around the French countryside? There are so many great options of things to do and places to go that decision making will be difficult. We also have in our heads that the whole thing might end up being canceled (what if we aren’t even allowed to travel anywhere) so there’s that, but I’m going to just operate under the assumption that we can…and book refundable lodging. We don’t think we want to rent a car, just take trains if we go other places. Ideas from my end so far include Reims or Strasbourg. I’ve got a few more travel books on hold at the library (I’ve been reading Rick Steves of course, but he doesn’t have many pictures, and pictures help me figure out where I want to go!) so I’ll look and see. I may change my mind (if Louie ever gets involved in the decisions, for instance…) but right now I’m thinking go elsewhere for 3 nights and then back to Paris for the last 4 nights. I think a smaller historical town or two would be ideal, someplace to wander and walk around. Or do we want to go to the French Alps and hike? I think that would be fun, but would require hiking boots and such and maybe we don’t want to pack for that and would be better just packing for a city type vacation.

Before that, Atlanta! My week is getting done, my headache is (for the moment) not here, and Spring Break is in sight (it officially starts Wednesday morning for me.) I’m feeling better now at least! I’ve been trying to just relax and not worry about all the things I can’t do anything about, and just focus on more positive thoughts. My band is playing a coffee shop gig Saturday morning, I have the afternoon and evening off, then Sunday is only an opera performance. The opera this week is fun: it’s Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West which is a rarely performed opera (we are doing the St Louis premiere) and I like the conductor quite a lot. (See what I’m doing here, positivity.) I have 5 hours of teaching ahead of me today, but it’s my Friday students…they are always more relaxed and glad for the weekend.

So if you’ve been to France, let me know what you thought! Or if you haven’t, where would you want to go?

Random thoughts

Delight

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I was listening to an episode of This American Life yesterday about delight, and various stories about people who find delight in their lives. It reminded me quite a bit about Gretchen Rubin and the Happiness Project stuff she works with.

I think lately I’ve been struggling finding happiness. Having another headache this week (not as bad as the other week, but still overwhelming at times) hasn’t helped in any way. Worrying about coronavirus and the presidential election (which honestly, hasn’t the primary been going on for a year now and still isn’t over) isn’t helping either. I do find myself happier when I ignore the news, but then I’m uninformed, and I’m not sure I want to trade that.

I was trying to think, what brings me delight? What are moments throughout the day that I can find happiness to relieve the tedium and stress I seem to be finding on an everyday basis. It’s hard. I feel like I’m working too much and not getting a lot of enjoyment out of my work. And then I just get done, and I’m exhausted and Louie is exhausted and we make a quick dinner and watch a show on netflix and then go to bed, and the day starts again the next day the same way. If we are lucky, we might have time to go do something outside, like a hike or run, but lately every time I do high impact exercise (okay, this has been twice in the past three weeks) I end up with a terrible headache after…(each time I started with a  mild headache hoping I would sweat it out). So my running is also super slow, which is something I don’t enjoy but it’s hard, and then that is something else that is bringing me stress. Hiking is fun, and we enjoyed the one last weekend, but then I work a lot of weekends and we don’t always have time. Traveling is fun, and we are planning to go to Paris this summer as part of a work conference for Louie…except we are worried about it getting canceled due to the coronavirus and then what? Seeing friends can be fun, but there’s often a pressure to drink alcohol and I’m cutting back due to my headaches, and honestly, who has the time? It would be nice to do other things with friends, museums, hiking etc, but then it all boils down to time and the lack of it. I’m probably doing too many things, and I’m doing too many things that just don’t bring me enough delight (or joy) but then I just don’t know which ones to give up. All of it? Just quit it all and spend my days in meditation?

So what I’m left with is stealing time during the day to read, which I do truly enjoy. And blog, which is good because even though I just seem annoyed and possibly a bit depressed, blogging is a small delight.

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Cats always bring joy, except when they run away and then they bring great sadness. Muriel is not worried about her joy and is just enjoying the sun and bird watching. I should be like Muriel in many ways.

I think having a few days away next week will be really good! I am feeling like I’m in a bit of a funk and usually the best way to break that is to mix things up a bit. I’m visiting April in Atlanta, and I think that will really help my mood. I’m also visiting my doctor soon to talk about my headache issue and hopefully get some ideas on relief. It’s possible they are stress related as well, and I am going to reflect on how I can reduce stress, at least on the inside. I can’t control the my outside world (I’m talking on a larger level) but I can work on my inside world, and my immediate outside world.

Hiking, Random thoughts

Cliff Cave Park

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It was a gorgeous weekend, weather-wise, so Louie and I took a hike one day. There had been an article in the local paper about various places to hike and it mentioned Cliff Cave Park. I had had it on my list for a bit, but it often seemed to be flooded. I assumed (incorrectly) that since the article mentioned no flooding that the park would be fine to hike.

To be fair, we were still able to hike several miles, but a long part of the hike was closed due to flooding. Dear reporters, don’t just google stuff and put together an article. Maybe go check it out.

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Anyway, it was a lovely day and we enjoyed walking around near the Mississippi River. We probably walked about 4 miles total.

Otherwise, the weekend flew by. For once we didn’t have any concerts to attend, but I had a bunch of rehearsals and a few students, and before we knew it, it was Monday again.

I have now done a fair amount to “prepare” for coronavirus disruptions. We probably have two weeks of food and 3 days of water (for whatever reason) so I feel better about things. I suppose I’m tired of feeling like everything is terrible and feeling helpless and that our president is a completely narcissistic fool and yet so many of my fellow Americans are…well, fine with that. It’s upsetting.

I’m also annoyed that we don’t get to vote in the primary today. I’m annoyed that we don’t all vote on the same day: the concept of momentum is stupid, and we should all just get to vote on the same day (or week, really) for the candidate we think would do the best job. Perhaps even the top three candidates, in order, and then the one who got the most votes would become the nominee. Why does the primary season feel like it’s been going on my whole adult life?

In any case, the weather is beautiful, I don’t have to teach until 1 pm, so maybe I’ll get out for a run! Sorry there aren’t any cat pictures——I ‘ve been too busy to take any, and honestly, she just does the same things Winking smile

Random thoughts

Popping in Again

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A more positive post: I have gotten so many things done today! I’m still a bit under the weather but I’ve made various appointments, made a marmalade and a pickled mushroom recipe (really, I don’t know why, except I’m obsessed), organized my music for a concert in late March, done laundry, dishes, and I think I’ll even have a bit of time in the afternoon to both relax AND practice a bit. I won’t let the world get me down!

I am looking forward to spring break. It’s tricky to even take a break, as none of my different schedules actually line up to have a break, so I’m taking a break with the college students and Louie, by extension, and we are going to hit the road to visit my friend April. I haven’t left town in some time and I think it’s wearing on me. We are also planning a fun day this Saturday and hoping the weather forecast holds: we have plans to hike and also have a fun dinner with friends. This weekend shockingly doesn’t have ANY performances to attend, and I think we will really enjoy not seeing a concert. I have enough rehearsals on Sunday and then next week to make up for it anyway.

I think I’m doing too much, overall, but I’m not entirely sure how to stop. I have a few students who are quitting/cutting back and my impulse right now is to not fill those spaces. The only sort of annoying thing is that I do have some awkward times open on Tuesdays, and I dislike having a 30 minute spot here and there, because it ends up being 20 minutes of me just doing absolutely nothing, because the students will stretch to fill the space and then I don’t have enough time or energy to do anything useful! So I guess I’d like to fill up about 1 hour worth of students earlier in the day on Tuesday and then not fill the later times and end up having some earlier evenings some days. I may not try to do anything right now and see how things shake out over the summer and fall.

So anyway, just rambling thoughts. This post probably needs more cat pictures but I don’t have any good ones right now and she’s hiding under the desk. Smile

Random thoughts

Snow

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The good news is I’m finally staring to feel better. It’s been a rough week!

The bad news, well, we are all going to get the coronavirus, right? Or it might interrupt our upcoming travel plans. I did go down a bit of a rabbit hole yesterday learning about things, and then ended up stocking up a bit more on canned goods and bottled water than I might normally have. I suppose this fits in well with my jamming and pickling hobbies! I guess if we all get quarantined I can always teach facetime lessons? The president tweeting about fake news and stock markets and how CNN is lying about the stock market and the virus to make him look bad (yes, this just happened) probably isn’t helping anybody here feel safer…nor is it helping the stock market, I wouldn’t think. If the flu is making people panic, there’s certainly no reason to stop panicking yet. But remember, don’t cash out your 401k. Markets go up and down, and this one went up for a long time.

On other notes, since I’m feeling better I’m finally going to try to work out this morning. It snowed overnight so it’ll be an indoor workout (yes, it snowed—it was 60 degrees on Sunday and it snowed here, which would be absolutely unbelievable if you had literally never been anywhere in the Midwest before—if you had, you would shrug and say, c’est la vie!).

And then I don’t know. Wednesdays are my day to catch up on everything, and I have a lot of things I should do and will do, but I am also still recovering. I’m tired, I’m sniffly (which doesn’t even seem to be a real word!), and I have a lot of things to do that I don’t feel like doing. I’ll probably do some of them and kick the others down the road until later. Maybe productivity is overrated…if the president can spend most of his days tweeting and golfing, why do the rest of us have to do any work?

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.